The best
biblical compliment given to any geographic location is a simple phrase- a land flowing with milk and honey.
Having traveled a bit, I guess you could say that I consider the quality and
quantity of a country’s milk a key indicator of its civilization.

To get milk to
market first you need keep cattle that you don’t plan on eating, at least right
away. That in and of itself is an indicator that the agricultural capacity of a
location can support more than subsistence farming. Second you need a stable
workforce. Dairy farmers don’t take vacations. Third you need a sophisticated
transportation system that includes refrigeration so that you can get the product
to market before it perishes or becomes a health hazard for consumers. Last,
you need an enforceable health code to ensure the quality and consumer safety of
the product.

Yes, you can
call me a milk drinker. Having grown up on a dairy farm, you might say that I
am a connoisseur of the world’s milk. Since I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t
frequent the local bars and imbibe the local beer, wine, or liqueur when I
travel. Instead I head to the nearest supermarket and check out to the dairy
department.

A lot of
locations produce the sterilized cartons of milk that don’t require
refrigeration. I walk right by those shelves. I am looking for fresh moo juice.
I don’t care if it comes in bags, bottles, or cartons, but it has to be fresh.
Fresh milk lets me know that I am in a civilized place.

Drinkable Peach YogurtYum!

Next I look
for the range of varieties and brands. The more variety, like chocolate milk,
whole milk, two percent milk, or any other variation of fresh milk, means more
sophistication of milk production. More variety of milk means that this
connoisseur has choices, and I like choices.

I also pay
attention to the quantity of milk available both on the shelf, and per average
container. In the US we find shelf after shelf of gallons of the good stuff. In
other countries I might only find fresh milk in liter bags. Since I can drink a
quart of milk for breakfast without breaking a sweat, I get a warm fuzzy
feeling when I find a dairy department stocked full of cold fresh lactated
liquid.

After sampling
the fresh stuff, I also look for the milk byproducts like butter, cheese,
yogurt, or ice cream – especially the ice cream.Statistically speaking they have proven that people with
more education and higher IQ’s eat more ice cream. It doesn’t surprise me since
ice cream is the highest form of milk byproducts. I’m just not sure if smart
people eat ice cream or eating ice cream makes you smart. I will have to
continue my research.

Helado!

I recently
returned to Lima, Peru, after fifteen years. One of the first things I did was
head to the nearby supermarket and check out the dairy section. I was pleased
to see that both availability and variety of milk have improved in my absence.
I took great pleasure in sampling the various fresh milk products delivered in
one-liter bags. I enjoyed the drinkable peach yogurt produced by Gloria. Of
course I had to sample the D’Onofrio ice cream that street vendors sell
everywhere. (Based on the ubiquity of ice cream vendors in Lima, they must be some of the smartest people in the world.) After several days of assessment, I would say that Peru has made
tremendous strides in the last few years. It has become a land flowing with
milk, and that is progress you take to the fridge.

Yes, I’m a
milk drinker, a veritable connoisseur of cow juice, a maniac for moo-moo, a disciple
of dairy. For me, nothing says “civilization” like a large, well-stocked dairy
section in a grocery store. To say that a land flows with milk is a compliment
of biblical proportions.

Dairy Section of Supermarket in Miraflores

(No offense meant to all
you fans of apiculture. I love honey too, but for me, milk is the bee’s knees.)

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I was driven to writing by my own arrogance. In January of 2009, I finished a book by a popular author and was very unimpressed. I turned the book over and saw that it was a NY Times best seller. “I could do better than that,” I mumbled under my breath. So I began to dabble in writing and pondered various book ideas. Although I didn’t share my writing with anyone for several months, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed my writing time and found myself eager to get back to my computer. Writing gave me new purpose, and filled an emotional void in my life. It allowed me to be creative. I began sharing my work and was encouraged. I attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp, and came away with greater desire and respect for the writing craft. Today, I am still arrogant enough to think that I can succeed, but not so naïve that I think success will come without great struggles and many failures.